19/01/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Cumbria's Ambulance Service "requires improvement",

following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Staff shortages and the treatment of vulnerable patients were highlighted

It comes as Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner warns lives

could be at risk if plans to reorganise the county's health

services place further pressures on police and ambulance Services.

The demand placed on Cumbria's emergency services has never

There's concern plans to remove some services from the hospital

in Whitehaven will force hundreds of extra patients to be transferred

to Carlisle every year, placing greater strain not just

on ambulance staff but on police officers who are

On an almost daily basis, police are being called to support

It is not a core role for the police, and whenever that happens,

they are taken away from core policing duties.

My concern is, if this was to get worse, the police

don't have the resources to do it either.

Based on accident statistics, the A595 is one of the most

It's often closed by flooding and can be treacherous in winter.

It's this road and the 40-mile journey between Whitehaven

and Carlisle that's the focus of Peter McCall's letter

to the success regime, the body responsible for restructuring

In the letter, he says he'd be 'failing in his

duty' if he didn't raise concerns about an increased patient

transfers and the A595 and the knock-on effect that

would have on officers called to assist an already fragile

system - a worry shared by the Police Federation.

As police officers are waiting for the ambulance staff, and

the medical staff to arrive, jobs are backing up.

And the public are sitting around, saying, where are

What we don't want to do is blame other people for our

non-attendance, but unfortunately, all too often, that is the case, and

A dedicated ambulance transfer service is being considered

as a means of easing pressure on existing staff, but Peter McCall

wants reassurance any plans have been properly tested before

If we don't get this right thrn it really does endanger lives,

and I don't think anyone wants to be in that business.

A spokesperson for the success regime said all responses

to the consultation are being independently analysed and that

analysis will be considered when final decisions are made.

A couple from Surrey have described a north-east call

handler as "an angel" for talking them through

the delivery of their baby under the stairwell of their home.

The mother had gone into a sudden and complicated labour,

and was trying to get out of the door to a taxi,

Their frantic 111 call for urgent medical help was answered

Our health reporter Sharon Barbour has this exclusive story.

It was a call Simon Williams in Newcastle had been trained for,

A couple 300 miles away needed urgent medical help.

From my mouth, it came the same, the baby was coming out.

Simon knew if things went wrong, the lives of both mother

Then an indication of a serious complication.

There was one question he answered yes to which hurried things up a

It was that the waters were stained brown.

That means the baby is getting stressed.

They were in Surrey and a London ambulance was now on its its way.

But when a taxi they'd called earlier arrived,

evidence the baby was also on its way was all over the dad.

When he saw my dress, all the blood,

everything on my shirt because the

Within a few minutes, the sound of a baby crying.

I was welling up and I congratulated them.

It's extremely rare for 111 call handlers to meet their patients.

But Simon has come down from the north-east

and is about to arrive to meet the little girl

In the end she had to be delivered here, under the stairs.

A dispute between fire fighters and the North Yorkshire Fire Service

is close to being resolved after a meeting this evening.

Two fire fighters were sent home from duty in the

dispute over a new tactical response vehicle.

The unions contested it needed four officers to crew it,

A way forward is now being considered by

We provided an offer to the union which they will take away and

Hopefully if that is acceptable to them, then we will be

able tomorrow afternoon to resolve that part of the dispute that

relates to tactical response vehicles.

To allow that to happen, we have agreed for night shifts and day

shift tomorrow, not sending anyone home.

The Labour Party has selected its candidate to fight

a parliamentary by-election in Copeland in West Cumbria tonight.

Local county councillor and orthopaedic surgeon

Gillian Troughton will look to retain the seat for the party.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of

Last week the Liberal Democrat Party selected local councillor

The other parties have yet to pick their candidates.

Millions of pounds of European money designed to help flood-hit areas

?15 million of cash has been allocated from Brussels.

But almost all of it will be used to pay off a fine imposed

by the European Union for mis-spending money

The Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, the MP

for Westmorland and Lonsdale, told the House of

Whoever's fault it was that a fine was incurred,

for certain it was not the fault of communities

Will he commit that all of that money coming to those

communities, or at the very least there to be a debate on the matter.

David Lidington, the Leader of the House of Commons,

told Mr Farron that an adjournment debate is probably the best way

forward, and he will look into the matter of the European

A significant milestone in the construction of a new bridge

over the River Wear at Sunderland has been reached today.

The centrepiece of the bridge, a 100-metre-tall pylon,

was brought up the river by barge to the construction site.

And the barge carrying the centrepiece of the new Wear

From port to site, a journey of three miles,

Time though to savour what will be a new landmark,

And after a journey that started across the North Sea,

in a Belgian fabrication yard two weeks ago, the bridge

The weather's been brilliant, lovely, calm weather.

And we've had the rising tide with us as well,

as we came up the river, we had the tide to help us along.

We are where we expected to be, still on target

And today is a big milestone along that programme,

and working towards achieving that completion date.

The claim is that the new bridge between Pallion and Castletown

will bring developments that could create 6,000 jobs.

Local engineer Amy has already benefited.

I went over to Belgium to see it, and didn't fully

appreciate the scale when it was in the factory.

But now I can actually see it, where it is, I think it's really

But the next thing to watch out for is when the pylon

That should happen either at the end of this month

And when the pylon is in place, it'll be over 100 metres

tall, twice the height of Gateshead's Millennium Bridge,

no doubt a very important statistic for Wearside to boast about.

Ian Reeve, BBC Look North, Sunderland.

Here's Paul Mooney with a look at the weather.

And a white weather is to continue. Only boring weather if you like.

Mostly dry but fairly cloudy overnight. If you get any breaks in

the looks as though we can, a bit more

cloud on Sunday. Now the national picture.

Good evening, it will gradually get colder in the UK in the next few

days, something we don't have to worry about